Dusk of the Force
by Eclipse89
Summary: Set several years before "The Force Awakens," "Dusk of the Force" follows the adventures of the First Order, as they're faced with a mysterious, powerful foe. The very existence of the newly formed galactic empire is at risk when Supreme Leader Snoke goes missing and the resistance is an inch from succeeding. Will our brave heroes rescue Snoke and save the First Order?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, obviously.

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Chapter 1: The Cave

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A single sun set on a lonely, desolate planet as the First Order's shuttle landed on a small stretch of flat land. Insanely high mountains nearly blocked the sunlight, which basked their snowy tops in its reddish glow. Long, deep shadows fell upon barren valleys and crevices. With neither settlements nor vegetation in sight, the surroundings looked like an empty hellhole, one of many in the Outer Rim.

The shuttle's door opened and six stormtroopers marched out, with their blasters ready to fire. Hesitantly, they spread out, setting their feet carefully on the unsteady ground. Their white armor stood out amongst the dreary gray of the local rocks. Then, a trooper in a chrome armor emerged alongside Kylo Ren. Her mantle and his cape billowed in the chilly wind dramatically as they surveyed the mountains.

"This place doesn't seem inhabited," Captain Phasma noted shortly; her voice distorted by her bucket-like helmet.

Kylo Ren lowered his head, as though he was listening. The intensifying wind blew his shoulder-length hair in his face. "The boy is certainly here, hiding. I can sense his presence." He lifted his chin. "I sense… distress."

Phasma put her finger on her blaster's trigger. "Maybe he noticed one of the stormtroopers," she said and head out without waiting for Kylo Ren. Briefly, she glanced at her subordinates, who wandered about aimlessly like stray nerfs. Probably, as their training overseer, she was supposed to give them instructions, but she didn't. They weren't worth her effort.

Kylo Ren closed his eyes and felt out the Force. He let it flow through him and reached out to search for the fugitive – a teenage force-sensitive boy, who managed to slip away several years ago. Picturing the youth, he let his mind wander, until something caught his attention. Abruptly, Kylo Ren turned and stared at a deep crevice in the east. The boy was there, but he wasn't there alone. He reached for his communicator. "Phasma, come in."

A bored voice answered him. "Phasma speaking."

"Have your troopers check the caves east from the shuttle. Don't let the boy escape," he ordered.

"All troopers, caves in the east, double time," Phasma's voice sounded in the com. She must have let it on for longer than she meant to, for Kylo Ren heard her add, "Top marks in the academy for this crap."

Kylo Ren ignored the disgruntled captain and set off toward the caves himself. With the nightfall, the wind on the mountainous planet intensified, whistling in the crevices and causing small rocks to topple from above like hail. He pulled his hood over his head and snatched his lightsaber. As he approached the destination, he felt the rogue boy's presence clearer, as well as the strange disturbance. Kylo Ren furrowed his brows, struggling to pinpoint what it was – never in his life had he sensed something quite that odd. Actually, it wasn't a presence at all, but the lack of it, as though there was a hole in the Force there, and it was on the move. Cautiously, he gripped the handle of his lightsaber with both hands.

Right before entering the cave, Kylo Ren paused, noticing two sets of footprints leading inside. Phasma's stormtroopers went in before him. He licked his lower lip, before taking a step inside.

He activated his lightsaber to light the way, a narrow corridor leading straight ahead. With his peripheral, he noticed something lay on the ground ahead – a single spoon, a crude, handcrafted tool. The cave was inhabited. Assured that he was on the right path, Kylo Ren pushed onward, his footsteps echoing across the cave.

Suddenly, a scream pierced the silence. Then, another joined him, building up into an ear-wrenching crescendo, before it got silenced. Kylo Ren could only hear his heartbeat and the loud, whistling noises of himself breathing heavily. Instinctively, he took a step back, before he realized what he was doing. He wasn't a frightened child nor an unsure jedi apprentice, he was Kylo Ren! Biting on his lower lip, he continued forward. Unknowingly to himself, he held his breath and set his feet lightly not to alert anyone of his arrival, although his brightly red lightsaber was a dead giveaway.

A voice of one of the stormtroopers sounded in his com. "FN-1198 to Captain Phasma and Kylo Ren. I've found an abandoned settlement together with an old shuttle and two bodies, fresh ones, judging by the look of it.

Another stormtrooper answered him. "They died from hunger?"

"Negative," the first soldier said. He lowered his voice, as though he was muttering to himself. "Strange, I see no wounds either. I have no clue why they're dead." The trooper paused for a while and it seemed that he turned the com off. However, after a moment, he spoke again, sounding distressed. "I see a movement!" Sounds of blasters being fired followed, interrupted by his scream, before his transmission ended.

Quickly, Kylo Ren wiped beads of sweat that gathered on his forehead. As he did that, he saw his hand shake a little. "Stop it," he whispered to himself and walked ahead. He followed the two sets of stormtrooper footprints down the corridor into a large, dome-like chamber. Squinting his eyes, he waved his lightsaber around to shed some light on his surroundings.

Right next to the entrance, lay two stormtroopers, motionless and with their blasters discarded. Kylo Ren didn't need to check if they were dead; he knew they were. Immediately, a quiet whimpering drew his attention, and he approached its source. The red glow of the laser blade illuminated the very person, he was looking for.

A scared, youngster gawked back at him with fear, shivering. The runway jedi apprentice sat with his back propped against the cave's wall. His limbs were tied so tightly that he resembled a caterpillar. When he saw Kylo Ren enter the chamber, he stopped pulling at his binds and tried so say something, but it was muffled by his gag. Nonetheless, he thrashed violently, constantly mumbling into the piece of cloth, which had been shoved into his mouth. His eyes bulged from fear, but Kylo Ren sensed that he wasn't afraid of the First Order. No… he was terrified of something far worse.

Kylo Ren glanced back at the dead stormtroopers; something had to kill them, and the jedi boy wasn't the one. "What happened here?" he questioned the youth.

The boy let out a muffled sound, before he looked up persistently, as though trying to convey something.

"What?" Kylo Ren muttered, suddenly sensing the disturbance in the Force again, picturing it like a black hole. When the boy pointed his chin at the ceiling, he gazed up. "What the-"

Abruptly, two creatures dropped from the ceiling, lightly landing on the ground, cutting Kylo Ren's exit off. In the light of his lightsaber, they were barely visible, half-hidden in shadows. Only their humanoid shape and pale, almost translucent skin could be distinguished, before they slithered back into the dark corners of the chamber.

It was clear that they were preparing to strike with an element of surprise. It wasn't a problem for Kylo Ren though – realizing his eyes were useless anyway, he closed them and tried to sense the aggressors with the Force. It was everywhere, from the crass walls of the cave, dusty flooring and stalactites hanging from the ceiling to the tied up boy. There was no sign of those two creatures though.

Suddenly, a pale figure fell onto him from above, fast and without any warning. Kylo Ren swung his sword at it, but the unknown foe outmaneuvered him easily, vanishing back into shadows. Before he could ready himself, another one attacked from the other side. Briefly, he saw a sunken face resembling that of a corpse and a pair of pitch black eyes as the creature reached out with long, thin fingers. This time, Kylo Ren managed to make use of his lightsaber; he slashed the enemy clean in half. When his laser blade went through the waist, the flesh turned into dense mist and flew away, laughing at him.

"This one has much force in him," a female said, her raspy whisper echoing in the cave. "We should take him to mother."

"He's too weak, sister," the other creature responded, mocking Kylo Ren. "Do you want to offend her?"

"No!" the first voice howled. "He'll make a fine bait though, won't he?"

"Oh yes, he will," the second foe said.

In the meantime, the young jedi apprentice managed to spit out the cloth, he was gagged with. With a whistle, he drew a breath. "Ben, run!" he shouted to Kylo Ren. "You must warn General Leia! She's in-"

He never got the chance to finish, for a humanoid, willowy figure leapt from the ceiling, landing right by his side. Kylo Ren narrowed his eyes, taking in her appearance – thin limbs, a net of purple veins visible from under the thin, pale skin. The female belonged to a species unknown to him.

She leant over the boy and put her finger on his lips. "Silence," a dark, desperate desire sounded in her whisper. Hastily, she cupped his face and covered his lips with hers. She moaned in contentment, as she cocked her head and deepened the kiss.

The boy's body stiffened and his legs twitched uncomfortably, before he stilled forever. When the female pulled away, his eyes were glassy, lifeless, and his corpse slumped to the cave's flooring.

Kylo Ren froze, unwittingly lowering his lightsaber. The moment in which he broke his focus drew the attention of the ominous foes. Both females slowly walked toward him, staring him down with their huge, bottomless eyes that were black like a starless sky. Even though they didn't look particularly muscular or sturdy, they were far more dangerous than a rampaging wampa. Kylo Ren found himself unable to move, either because of his fear or maybe he got perplexed by the women's eerie stare.

Suddenly, a plasma blast whizzed right past Kylo Ren 's ear and the shot hit one of the creatures right in her chest. It passed through her half-corporeal body, but it offered enough distraction. Kylo Ren looked over his shoulder to see who came to his rescue.

Captain Phasma pulled the trigger of her blaster without delay, targeting the other creature. "I've tried to contact you for a while," she said, before her voice got deafened by the sound of her weapon at work. Initially, she was a bit startled by how little effect her offensive had on her foes, but she never stopped firing. "Are we retreating to the shuttle?"

Kylo Ren backed away from the chamber, letting Phasma cover his escape. "Affirmative." He glanced one last time at the dead jedi apprentice and remembered his warning, which got interrupted so brutally. With a shake of his head, he expelled distracting thoughts and turned on his heel, running for the shuttle.

Phasma followed him closely, making good use of her blaster until it ran out of energy. "Shit," she muttered, staring at the charging progress. When the ghost-like females slithered closer to her, she whirled around and dashed after Kylo Ren.

The shuttle was empty, when they got to it, with no sign of the stormtroopers around. Kylo Ren leapt for the steers, engaging the primary systems before he even sat in the pilot's chair. In the meantime, Phasma punched a button that closed the shuttle's door.

Kylo Ren sat down, keeping his hand on the steer and the other one about to turn the engines on. He glanced back at Phasma. "Where are the stormtroopers?" he asked. Three of them should be still alive.

"They're done for."Phasma found a spare blaster and unblocked it. She pointed the rifle at the shuttle's door, ready to evaporate whoever wished to enter. "We need to save ourselves now."

Kylo Ren arched his eyebrow at her statement. Well, she would be the one explaining it to Hux, not him. He flipped a switch and pulled at the steers, as the shuttle's engines buzzed. Slowly, the Lambda-class vehicle lifted from the ground and hovered for a while, before the thrusters' power redirected from vertical to horizontal.

"They're coming!" Phasma pointed her finger at two mist-like creatures gliding toward the shuttle.

Their forms dissolved into twin, indiscernible clouds of light-gray smoke. Quickly like speeding tantans, they flew right for the spacecraft, easily percolating through boulders that were in their way. Would they be able to penetrate the ship's door in this state?

Kylo Ren didn't want to know the answer. Impatient, he tugged the steers, as if it could make the shuttle move any faster. "Damn it," he cursed under his breath, wishing the damn craft would be as quick as a TIE-fighter. His gaze was fixed on the smoky creatures that were approaching rapidly, almost caught up to Kylo Ren.

Finally, the apathetic engines kicked in, buzzing from the strain, he was putting on them. The shuttle dashed forward abruptly, causing Phasma to sway on her legs. Just before the small craft escaped, Kylo Ren caught the glimpse of the creatures with a corner of his eye. Mockingly, they laughed and said one word in unison. From the cockpit, he couldn't hear their voices, but he could read their lips.

"Weakling," they said and vanished when the shuttle darted into the upper parts of the atmosphere, passing the thin layer of clouds.

Kylo Ren gritted his teeth and clenched his hands on the steers so forcefully that he knuckles turned white. A deep wrinkle ran through his forehead as he furrowed his dark brows in a hateful grimace. "I'm not weak!" he muttered to himself, glaring menacingly at the space in front of him. "I'm not," he added; his voice sounding frail, like that of a lost child.

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Author's note:

Thank you for reading the first chapter. Have you liked it? Please leave a comment and tell me what you think. I'll give you virtual muffins if you do!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, obviously.

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Chapter 2: The First Day

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A brand new Star Destroyer "Deterioration" orbited the planet, accompanied by two cruisers. The ship was the First Order's most recent addition to the fleet and, as such, it had been placed in charge of the recently promoted officer, Commander Hux. The best vessel imaginable, full crew and a fairly easy first mission would sound like a dream for any career man, but the reality was less than rosy.

Hux paced in the hangar bay nervously, combing his red hair with his fingers. He tried standing still for a moment, but he kept tapping with his foot. The start of his commanding career was marked by an utterly botched mission. This failure would be noted in his file for certain. "I can't believe this," he murmured under his breath, before Kylo Ren's shuttle arrived.

The small craft flew into the hangar far too fast, crooked at that, scraping the floor with the left side of its bottom. On its way, it hit one of the TIE-fighters, smashing it and delivering a hard blow into the "Deterioration's" budget. Then, the shuttle continued its path of destruction. Somehow, its pilot managed to turned the small ship ninety degrees and having its prow rub against the pristine walls of the hangar. A number of stormtroopers ran for their lives, scattering like frightened insects.

Hux observed the desolation of his ship with terror reflecting in his blue eyes. Just when he thought things couldn't go worse, they did. To calm himself down, he inhaled slowly and massaged his temples. He felt a massive headache approaching.

The shuttle stopped at last and only two people left it – Lieutenant Phasma and Kylo Ren. Snoke's young apprentice seemed particularly distraught. He kept touching his lightsaber, as though constantly checking if it was still by his side. His clenched hands trembled a little, and all his anxiety reflected on his face, making him an open book. Hux noted to himself to have him wear some sort of a mask to cover his boyish face. A galactic empire in the making couldn't afford having someone so unintimidating around.

Hux stalked toward Kylo Ren and Phasma, inspecting the damaged shuttle. "Where are the stormtroopers?" he demanded.

"Dead, sir," Phasma said in a dry, soldier voice, before adding quietly, "Mostly."

Hux glared at her furiously. If she weren't so damn tall and robust, he'd punch her! Keeping his composure, he looked away, focusing his gaze on the wrecked TIE-fighters; it didn't help manage his anger. Hux said to Phasma, "According to the mission control, three of the stormtroopers lived when you left the planet without them!"

"They're certainly dead now," she rebutted.

"That's beside the point!" Hux looked at her sharply, clenching his hands into fists. "Lieutenant, you were responsible for these troopers and you left them to die. How will you explain that?" He stared at her expectantly.

Phasma shifted her weight from one foot to the other and turned her head to the side. "With all due respect, sir, but they're just stormtroopers. They're expendable."

Hux sighed lightly, releasing air from his lungs with a whizz. This supposedly amazing assignment would turn out into a penalty, if he was to work with people like Phasma. "Lieutenant Phasma, I'm beginning to have my doubts about your assignment to my ship. Maybe, it was a mistake," he said to her.

Obstinately, she kept looking somewhere to his right. "It was," she muttered barely audibly.

"Excuse me?" Hux cocked his head.

Phasma turned her bucket-like helmet to stare back at Hux. "It's nothing, sir," she said hastily and saluted. "Requesting a permission to leave, sir!"

Hux rolled his eyes, feeling relief, actually, for he was fed up with her and her attitude. "Granted." He dismissed Phasma and shifted his attention to Kylo Ren. "Have you found the boy?"

"I have," he said quickly… too quickly.

Hux furrowed his brows, surveying Snoke's apprentice. The way he was staring at his own shoes, the twitchy movements of his palms… It was painfully obvious that there was more to the story. Hux crossed his arms on his chest. "And..."

"He's dead," Kylo Ren answered.

Hux closed his eyes and sighed with relief. The mission wasn't a complete failure after all. "Thankfully," he muttered, before adding: "Is there anything else I should know?"

Kylo Ren whirled on his heel, dramatically swishing his black cape – a gesture, which earned Hux's dismayed moan. Before stalking away, he told the young commander, "You might want to send some proton torpedoes to the planet."

Hux blinked. "What?" he asked himself, for Kylo Ren was gone already. Slightly lost, he gawked at the trashed hangar bay, reminding himself that six stormtroopers died and how utterly incompetent his subordinates were. Truly, it was a fantastic start of his command of "Deterioration." He could feel his career utterly deteriorating. Thinking of which, he tapped his intercom. "Sergeant Tarkin, I require your presence in the conference room immediately."

The conference room was but an elevator trip away and Hux managed to get there before the sergeant. Usually used for senior staff's meetings, the chamber was now empty, its newness nearly glimmering. The white, shiny surface of the floor and walls was unspoiled, as well as the wooden table, which had been manufactured out of a rare species of a tree found only in the Dagobah system.

Hux traced his fingers along the smooth piece of furniture and stared out the enormous window at the starry space ahead. So many planetary systems were in this galaxy… some of them had been reclaimed by the First Order already, others had been stolen by the so-called New Republic or were abandoned, forgotten. The young commander smiled with hope, remembering how he vowed to unite them all under the aegis of the First Order. He was a naïve cadet then, but Hux's dream lived on in his heart. Even faced with failure and obstacles such as today, he still saw his glorious goal clearly. The mission was on and Supreme Leader Snoke trusted him with it.

He turned as the door to the conference room opened and a slender woman entered. She was in her twenties, just like Hux, although she ranked significantly lower. A rumor had it that she was a granddaughter of the late Grand Moff's Tarkin, and Hux had no doubt that it was true. Indeed, the Tarkin genes were strong in her – from the thin face with prominent, high cheekbones, blue eyes and to the skeleton-like silhouette with long fingers and bony knees. To be honest, she had a bit of a horse face. Her lips were so thin that she gave an impression that she was constantly pouting. She wore her auburn hair slicked back and gathered in a bun at the base of her neck, which made her eyes bulge when she tied it too tight.

"Commander Hux," sergeant Tarkin spoke unsurely; her voice was quiet and betrayed her lack of confidence. She swallowed a lump in her throat and stared at Hux like a tauntaun in headlights.

The young commander barely refrained himself from slapping his face with his hand. For crying out loud, Tarkin was his senior intelligence officer! Couldn't she, at least, hide her nervousness better? Her demeanor wasn't competent, but maybe she was a hard worker. "Have you located Lor San Tekka?" he asked.

Tarkin wriggled her fingers as she locked her gaze on her feet. "Well… He's been quite elusive, covering his tracks…" She drew a shaky breath.

Hux groaned as his patience wore thin. "Have you found him or not?" he raised his voice. "If I hear that you didn't-"

"I did!" Tarkin exclaimed and looked at Hux; she had utter desperation in her eyes. "He's in…" she paused for a moment, as though she was thinking hard about it. "He's in the Ahakista system."

Hux scratched his hairless chin thoughtfully. "It makes sense," he noted. Ahakista was home to the famous Daystar Casino, as well as a den of smugglers, thieves and dregs of society in general. It would be plausible for Lor San Tekka to hide out there, where he could blend in among other scum. Hux smiled at Tarkin, glad that at least one of his subordinates was half-competent. "Thank you for your good work, sergeant. Keep it up and I see a bright future lay ahead of you."

Tarkin opened her mouth, as if she was to say something, but then, she reconsidered. Clasping her thin lips shut, she saluted stiffly. "All in a day's work, sir," she recited very fast and dashed for the door. After glancing over her shoulder, she tapped repeatedly at the panel before her way out wasn't blocked anymore. Afterward, she fled, as though being in one room with Hux was her greatest nightmare.

Hux shook his head, disbelieving that such individuals had been assigned to his ship. The hope wasn't lost yet; perhaps, he'd be able to turn this day around. He turned his com link on and addressed the bridge, "Head to the Ahakista system, full speed."

With a slightly better mood, Hux headed to the elevator, which would take him to the bridge. Thankfully, these things were working far efficiently on Deterioration than on the older Star Destroyers. He crammed himself into the small space together with two stormtroopers, who patrolled the decks, and was about to dial his destination, when another passenger arrived.

"Wait!" a plump officer jogged for the elevator. His standard uniform barely fit his belly; his cap was missing, revealing a mass of brown curls, that resembled a nest. Once he made it to the elevator, he bent in half, panting from the effort. His freckled face was now brightly red as he gawked up at Hux. "Thanks for holding the elevator, commander."

"Anytime, doctor Calway." Hux noted to himself to recommend Calway some much needed exercise. It was somewhat embarrassing to have the chief medical doctor look the least healthy out of the entire crew. If he got a heart attack, Hux would die of shame before Supreme Leader Snoke and the fellow commanders. He cleared his throat and asked out of sheer curiosity, "Sergeant Calway, why exactly are you heading to the bridge?"

"I'm escaping," the doctor said straightforwardly. When the elevator beeped and its door opened, he peeked outside carefully, before leaving. "Kylo Ren was having a tantrum near the medical bay, wrecking the equipment with his lightsaber. I'm not quite fond of being anywhere around when that happens."

"No one is." Hux could relate to the doctor. "Nevertheless, Sergeant Calway, you shouldn't leave your post at a whim."

"But that's self-preservation!" Calway protested, clenching his plump hands and staring the commander solemnly in the eye. Confidently, he leaned toward Hux, whispering, "My grandma used to tell me stories of those folks with swishing capes and red lightsabers. She told me, stay away from those bullies, Eldon, they will choke you with their magic!" The doctor made a strangling gesture with his palms. "Mind my word, commander, this Kylo Ren is trouble. No normal man would dress up in such ridiculous robes, that's what my grandma would say. A wise woman, she was…"

Hux realized that he was standing in front of the elevator and listening to Calway for a while, instead of going about his duties. He shook his head, mentally berating himself for the slip of the discipline. "It was very interesting, Sergeant Calway, but I need to be on the bridge."

"Of course, commander," the doctor said, reaching out and patting Hux on the shoulder amiably. "It's always a pleasure to talk to a sensible man such as yourself."

Hux brushed past him and marched toward the bridge, only to discover that Calway was trotting right behind him. The doctor bore a wide, oblivious grin on his round face. The commander huffed from irritation and was about to reprimand his foolish subordinate, when the floor violently rocked under his feet. "What the hell?" he breathed out and ran for the bridge.

"Talk to me!" he yelled, as he stormed into the bridge.

The flight officers didn't even bother to look at him, for they were busy fighting with the machinery. As Hux stared out the window, he understood why – the Star Destroyer just dropped out of the hyperspace onto Ahakista's orbit right into an intense firefight. It was hard to make out what was going on, with a multitude of fighters swirling about, accompanied by half of a fleet. "The resistance," he whispered, noticing the insignia and X-Wings dashing right outside the window, taking a fly-bys and assaulting all vital systems. The Star Destroyer shook again, this time even more.

"Shields down to sixty percent!" one of the techs cried.

Another pointed at his screen dramatically. "Commander, we just lost the hyperdrive!"

Hux bit his lower lip, witnessing his brand new ship fall apart, on the very first day of his command. "Have all TIE fighters engage the enemy!" he ordered. "Divert all auxiliary power to the shields and fire with everything we've got. And-" he paused, realizing that he was unable to do this alone. "Send a distress signal, now!"

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Author's note:

Lor San Tekka is a character, who dies at the beginning of "The Force Awakens." He's portrayed by Max von Sydow.

Great thanks to Gibbous1992, my awesome beta-reader. You're the best!

Reviews would be greatly appreciated, even tiny, one-line comments. Come on, guys, let me know if you'd like to read more.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, obviously.

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Chapter 3: Sabotage

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Sergeant Willa Tarkin hurriedly walked down the vast corridor, nearly breaking into a crazy sprint. Nervously, she bit at her shortly-cut nails; it was a bad habit she developed in the academy. She couldn't believe she just blatantly lied to her superior. What if Commander Hux finds out? Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down. If he accuses her of misdirecting him, she'd just tell him that Lor San Tekka escaped again, like he's been doing for the past years.

"Sergeant," one of the stormtroopers greeted her.

"Trooper," she replied, wondering who the heck that was. FN-something, most likely; it was hard to tell them apart with all of them wearing the same, white armor and having numeral designations instead of names.

When there was no one around, Willa stopped and leaned against the wall. A terrible headache pulsed in her head, while a queasy sensation developed in her stomach. She felt so jittery and sick ever since she stepped aboard Deterioration. It was her first off-planet assignment, and she started it off with failure already. What a shame for her family name…

Willa took out a medal she had been hiding underneath her uniform. It was a memento her father had given to her before she left her home planet. The trophy was a titanium disc, one of very few, awarded for the extraordinary sacrifice for the Galactic Empire, posthumously awarded to her grandfather. She flipped the metal disc and stared at Grand Moff Tarkin's face engraved on the reverse. Her distinguished grandfather stared back at her sternly, reminding Willa of how big the shoes were that she had to fill. The truth was, she wasn't sure if she had what it took to do it.

"You can do this," Willa whispered to herself. "You won't be a disappointment." She was so engulfed in convincing herself of her own worth that she didn't hear the not-so-subtle sound of footsteps.

"Were you talking to yourself?" someone asked.

Willa yelped, starting so abruptly that her grandfather's medal almost fell out of her fingers. "What? No!" She hid the titanium disc under her clothes and turned around. When she saw who caught her red-handed, she relaxed. "Oh, it's just you, Phasma," Willa recognized one of the few females aboard.

Phasma removed her chrome helmet and rested it on her hip. With her armored gauntlet, she slicked her short, blonde hair back. The expression of utter disgruntlement was apparent on her angular face and contempt reflected in her blue eyes.

"It's been a tough day, eh?" Willa guessed.

"That's an understatement," Phasma muttered and leaned against the wall next to Tarkin. She said nothing else, but she didn't have to. The unsatisfied grimace on her face told her story for her – like Willa, she wasn't fitting well with the Deterioration's staff.

"Well, it could have been worse," Tarkin said philosophically.

The words barely rolled off her tongue when the floor swayed under her feet, followed by another, stronger tremor. Startled, she clawed at the smooth wall to hold onto something, but the First Order's engineers didn't believe in handrails, obviously. When she was halfway to falling flat onto her face, she got thrown back onto the wall as the Star Destroyer's artificial gravity had a brief malfunction. Willa turned her head, hearing a disturbing noise coming from somewhere near. It sounded like wheezing and it was getting louder.

"Tarkin!" Phasma grabbed Willa by her uniform and unceremoniously shoved her to the side right before a chunk of wall panel shot from the place she was standing a moment ago. The metal piece flew across the corridor like a plasma blast and dented the wall at the other side. Hot coolant spurted from the hole like a geyser. Phasma shook Tarkin, getting her attention. "Are you unharmed?"

Willa barely heard a thing over her insanely fast heartbeat. Realizing that she barely avoided death, she nodded. "I think so," she uttered and looked up at Phasma. "What's going on? A malfunction?"

She got her answer immediately, when a voice sounded both in her com and the ship's communication system. "Commander Hux speaking. To all hands, assume your battle stations. The ship is under attack. I repeat, the ship is under attack."

"Under attack?" Willa repeated. An icy cold shiver went down her spine, instantly making her palms sweat and knees buckle uncontrollably.

Phasma put her bucket-like helmet back on. "Tarkin, you better stick close to the escape, just in case," she said, her voice lowered by her headgear's filter.

"Right." Willa nodded, pulling herself together. She memorized the layout of the Star Destroyer, picturing the shortest escape route. "Phasma?" Smiling faintly, she put her hand on the chrome trooper's shoulder. "Be careful."

Phasma nodded. "You, too." She turned around and jogged away.

It was the highest time for Willa to get moving as well. She covered her mouth and nose with her hands, struggling not to hyperventilate. If she passed out from stress right now… This wasn't the right circumstance for over thinking things! All she needed was to focus on securing her poor ass, which was in danger. She picked up speed and ran for the hangar bay, where the shuttle was. Wisely, she avoided the elevator and took the longer, but also safer, route. Almost no stormtroopers were in that corridor, save for the one ahead.

A lone soldier patrolled the area and after him, rolled a droid. It was a small, white and orange BB unit. Willa slowed down, feeling that something was off. She furrowed her brows, staring at the droid. Since when has the First Order used BB units? "Stormtrooper!" she called sharply.

The soldier stopped before her. The white and orange droid emitted a high-pitched beep, which sounded like a terrified shriek, and rolled behind the stormtrooper. He peeked from his hideout at Willa once, beeped again, and went for cover again.

Tarkin arched her eyebrow and rested her hands on her hips. Suspiciously, she eyed the stormtrooper. "Where did you get that ridiculous droid?"

The BB unit made a fuss, cocking his head and beeping repeatedly. It sounded a bit, as though he just gave Willa a piece of his mind.

Tarkin gritted her teeth, glaring at the silly machine. Come to think of it, the droid did look familiar in a way. When she was shuffling through the intelligence reports earlier today, she came across an image of a BB unit, which looked identical… Distrustfully, she stared at the stormtrooper.

"What's your designation?" she demanded. Her hand slowly wandered toward her hand-blaster.

The stormtrooper looked down, focusing on the movement of her palm. Suddenly, he pointed his blaster right at Tarkin's chest. "I suggest you drop that weapon."

Willa froze, gripping her blaster's handle and cleared her throat. "Stand down, trooper!" she ordered sharply.

However, the soldier didn't listen to her at all. With a finger still on the trigger, he took his bucket off revealing… actually a quite handsome face.

Willa was not one for swooning, but she appreciated his dusky complexion, dark eyes and that roguish air he had around him. Come to think of it, she'd seen his face before. "Pie Dameron!" she recognized an infamous member of the resistance, a skilled pilot and a dangerous terrorist.

"It's Poe," he corrected her and moved his blaster threateningly. "Now take me to a secondary control station."

Willa narrowed her eyes at him. "Like I'd do that!" she hissed through the clenched teeth and swiftly pointed her blaster at him. Her index finger was already on the trigger, ready to pull it, when Dameron shot. The plasma blast hit Willa's weapon, evaporating it from her hand. She shrieked from surprise and threw away the smoking remains of her blaster. Glaring at the resistance scum with contempt, she muttered, "It's that way."

With Poe Dameron holding her at the blaster point, she showed him to the nearest control station, where the technicians would usually supervise the secondary operations of the Star Destroyer. Now it was empty, though, with the crew probably manning the battle stations and struggling to keep the spaceship in one piece. "What are you doing?" Willa demanded as the BB unit rolled to a panel and plugged himself in. She watched the little droid bypass the security measures without any trouble.

Dameron leant over the BB unit. "Have you gone through the ship's logs?"

The droid beeped somewhat affirmatively, then it hung his dome-like head and let out a prolonged, quiet sound, which made Dameron clearly distraught.

"What do you mean she's not here? She has to be!" He ran his hand through his dark hair and turned to glare at Willa, waving his blaster. "Where is General Leia?" he asked sharply, impatient tones ringing in his voice.

"I don't know!" Tarkin lifted her hands in a surrendering gesture. If she knew the answer, she'd tell him, she really would.

Dameron stalked toward her, eying her ferociously. Suddenly, his attractiveness level took a nosedive to match Kylo Ren's – creepy and better to avoid. The rifle of his blaster dug into Willa's side as he inquired, "I won't ask it again. What have you done with General Leia Organa?"

Tarkin panicked. "I have no clue what you're blabbering about!" she exclaimed with tears gathering in her eyes. Her arms trembled in the air, as though she was undergoing a seizure. "Honestly, I have no idea about her whereabouts!"

Dameron squinted his brown eyes, staring into Tarkin's for what seemed like an eternity. "You're not lying," finally, he stated the obvious, before turning to his droid. "Alright, BB-8, let's blow up that reactor."

Willa blinked, comprehending what he had just said. "What?" she breathed out. In horror, she gawked at the BB unit, who tweaked in the panel cheerfully. "You don't mean the Star Destroyer's reactor core, do you?" she questioned Dameron.

In response, he just shrugged his shoulder and flashed her a cheeky smile. "You guessed it," he said without a hint of remorse.

Willa clenched her fists, feeling as though the blood in veins just reached the boiling point. Her eyes narrowed into twin slits, as she glared daggers at him. "I hate you, rebel scum," she hissed like an infuriated rylothian serpent.

"I know," he answered with a smile and took several steps toward the exit. He glanced at his droid, who chirped happily, disconnected from the panel, and rolled away. Before following his mechanical accomplice out of the control station, he winked at Willa. "You might want to find yourself an escape pod, quickly, Miss Evil," he said and locked the door from the outside.

Tarkin growled from irritation and dashed for the portal. She slapped the panel, opening the door, and looked around. Poe Dameron and his droid, however, were nowhere in sight, probably already half-way off the ship. "Damn it!" she cursed, turning her com on. "General Hux, you might need to know one thing," she said, massaging her aching temples.

A series of tremors shook the ship, causing Willa to sway on her feet. For support, she gripped a control console, which gleamed red; red wasn't good. She drew a breath, before informing her superior. "The ship has been sabotaged. I'm afraid it will blow up."

When the Star Destroyer shook more violently than before, Willa squeezed her eyes shut and whispered to herself, "I'm so sorry, grandpa Tarkin, I'm such a disappointment."

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Author's note: Thanks for reading, guys, and sorry for making you wait for this chapter so long. I was on vacation, hence the delay. However, now I'm back and ready to update. It would be lovely if you reviewed.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, obviously.

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Chapter 4: Fireworks

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Back on the bridge, chaos ensued. Through the window, doctor Eldon Calway saw X-Wings swarm like a bunch of angry insects, constantly firing at the First Order's Star Destroyer. Flight officers and technicians struggled to persevere until the reinforcements arrive and Commander Hux kept shouting into his com link angrily, berating everyone he could reach.

"Tarkin!" His nostrils flared as he contacted the ship's senior intelligence officer. "What sabotage are you blabbering about?" For a while, he listened to her, focusing. Gradually, his face got paler until all color left it. Abruptly, he turned to the one of the younger officers, pointing his finger at him. "You there! Check the state of the reactor!"

The young man nodded, his fingers typing at an insane speed. When the required data popped on his screen, he leaned forward. His jaw went slack and he paled just like Hux. "Sir, the cooling won't compensate heating the core! The reactor will overload in twenty-five minutes," he said quickly, before adding slowly and clearly, "It means it will blow up."

"I know what it means!" Hux snapped at him and turned his com link back on to broadcast ship-wide. "Commander Hux to all hands, abandon ship. I repeat: head to the escape pods and eject." He addressed the flight officers, again. "What's the status of our reinforcements?"

The only female on the entire bridge whirled around in her chair. "On their way, sir. They should be jumping out of hyperspace any moment now," she informed.

Hux nodded, acknowledging the news. "Very well," he said and closed his eyes. Barely audible, he sighed with relief. The corners of his lips turned upward in a smile – a rare sight on his usually frowning face. "Thankfully," he whispered to himself.

As if on a cue, another fleet dropped out of the hyperspace. Three Star Destroyers, accompanied by a dozen of Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers and a multitude of TIE fighters came to the rescue, engaging the resistance's forces. The X Wings moved away from Deterioration to intercept the First Order's smaller spacecrafts, while the intimidating, huge ships stood by, ready to assist Commander Hux.

Eldon squinted his eyes, staring at the saviors. One of the Star Destroyers was painted crimson and black, the colors of the First Order. It was quite a characteristic vessel and doctor Calway thought he knew who it belonged to.

"Commander, the insignia on that ship…" he drew the attention of Commander Hux, pointing his finger at the colorful Star Destroyer. "Isn't it, by any chance, Supreme Leader Snoke's personal spacecraft?"

Hux paled even more, if that was possible. "It is." His blue eyes bulged as he swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'm done for," a weak whimper rolled off his tongue.

Eldon couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor commander. His grandma always told him to be sensitive and helpful. Thus, he stepped forward and rubbed Hux's back reassuringly. "Now, don't be so pessimistic, commander. Everyone has a bad day from time to time. My late grandma used to say-"

Hux shivered and jumped out of Eldon's reach. "Calway." He seemed surprised to see Eldon, as though he forgot that he was standing right behind him the whole time. "Why are you still on the bridge?"

"For moral support?" Eldon offered him a wide smile.

The commander gritted his teeth. His blood pressure must have spiked, for his face regained its healthy color and reddened, blending in with his red hair. "I don't need your moral support! What I need is for you to abandon this ship immediately, is that clear?" He crossed his arms on his chest.

"Yes, commander," Eldon made a casual reinterpretation of a salute; he waved his hand. As slowly as it was humanly possible, he made his way out.

"Good." Hux turned his com link on to harass someone else. "Kylo Ren? Hux to Kylo Ren!" Angrily, he tapped the device, as if he was suspecting it of being broken. "Answer me, damn it!" he yelled, gaining the attention of everyone on board. When only silence answered him, he pointed at the female officer. "You there! Scan the ship and locate Kylo Ren, immediately."

She typed quickly and cocked her head in confusion. "It appears Kylo Ren is still in his quarters, sir," she said hesitantly.

It was hard to tell if the grimace on Hux's face was a display of fury or utter dismay. He hung his head, rubbing his forehead. "Hasn't he noticed that the ship is falling apart?" the commander muttered under his breath. Then, he raised his chin abruptly and whirled around, his keen eyes looked like those of a predator searching for prey. "Calway!"

Eldon shuddered as his danger senses tingled. With one foot on the bridge and the other already on the corridor outside, he gawked over his shoulder. "Yes?"

Hux clasped his hands, smirking. "Make yourself useful for once. On your way to the escape pod, grab Kylo Ren," he commanded.

"Excuse me?" Eldon stared at him blankly.

Commander Hux rolled his eyes theatrically. "Drag him out of the quarters and stick him in the escape pod with you. The supreme leader will be furious if his apprentice dies so stupidly. Now, off you go!" He made a shooing gesture.

Eldon groaned, feeling that he had been just saddled with the most thankless task imaginable. He hunched, as if great weight burdened his absolutely non-muscular shoulders. "Can't someone else do it? I'm not exactly comfortable around that fellow," he complained.

Hux glared at him ferociously. "Don't annoy me, Calway, and hurry up. You have less than twenty minutes now," he said harshly and turned his back on Eldon.

Eldon sighed heavily, wallowing in self-pity for a brief while, before he remembered that he was currently on a ship, which was about to explode in no time. Moaning, he broke into run; actually, it was more like a semi-energetic march in Eldon's case. He was never a great fan of the fleet's gyms, although on a second thought, he could have improved his escaping capability.

He took a sharp turn, a little too fast, and bumped into someone. The force of impact sent him swaying backward, while the other person bounced off of his belly and landed on her bony butt. It was sergeant Tarkin, glaring at him from the floor with that stern, eternally frowning look on her face.

Concerned, Eldon bent over and reached out with his hand. "Where were you going? The ship is about to blow up in fifteen minutes!" He grabbed her palm and pulled her back onto her feet.

Tarkin shook the dirt off her uniform and straightened her cap. "I know, I was on my way to the escape pod," she said dryly; the tone of her voice reminded Eldon of Hux.

Thinking of whom… Eldon froze remembering his errand. "Oh dear," he mumbled, remembering the commander's order. Biting at his lower lip, he gripped Tarkin's hand and started dragging her down the corridor. "Come with me."

"Why?" she tore her palm out of Eldon's, but kept following him.

Her questioning stare bore into the back of his skull, but there was no time to explain. Right then, the silent red alert turned on and the previously white walls assumed a crimson shade. Most of the crew must have abandoned the Star Destroyer already, for there was not a single person in sight. Aside of Eldon's and Tarkin's footsteps the only other thing he heard was the titanium construction elements of the ship creak under the strain and weird noises made by the malfunctioning systems. At least the floor wasn't swaying anymore, now that the First Order's fleet distracted the resistance.

"It's here!" Eldon exclaimed, when he finally reached the living quarters. He made a beeline for the right door and banged his fist on it. "The ship is exploding!" he informed, yelling wholeheartedly. When there was no response, he took out his hand blaster and hit the door with its butt, repeatedly.

Tarkin gawked at him, a bit lost, but after a brief while, she joined him, using her boots and high-pitched voice. "Get out of there, you moron!" she shouted without any inkling of who was inside. "Drag your lazy butt over here!"

Together, Eldon and Tarkin made quite a racket which, fortunately, was effective. The door opened and the quarter's inhabitant glared at them with bottomless hatred reflecting on his pale face. With his hood casting shadow on his face, Kylo Ren ominous at first glance. He stared at the two officers threateningly, with his hand on his lightsaber. Then, however, Eldon noticed his bloodshot eyes and red nose, its color distinguishable even in the crimson light.

"Huh." Tarkin saw it too. Arching her eyebrow, she exchanged amused glances with Calway. Her smug smirk vanished, though, when someone hailed her on her com link. She pressed her palm to her ear and listened. "Phasma!" Tarkin exclaimed. "Negative, I'm still on the ship. Kylo Ren and Calway are with me." She winced, cocking her head, as though she wanted to get away from the speaker. "Yes, sir. We'll hurry to the shuttle."

"What's going on?" Kylo Ren pulled his dark hood so it would cover the upper half of his face.

Eldon cleared his throat, saying it for what felt like a hundredth time. "The ship is exploding in ten minutes."

"Eight," Tarkin corrected him after she checked her holographic displayer. She pointed her finger at her ear. "And Hux just said that all escape pods have been ejected already. His shuttle in the hangar bay is our only shot on making it out, alive," she said in a startlingly calm and collected fashion.

Eldon stared at her with awe. He never suspected Tarkin of such courage in the face of imminent demise. She even took the lead as their group of three ran toward the hangar bay. "Left," he said, seeing she was about to take a wrong turn.

Just when their destination was nearly within their reach, something orange flashed before Eldon's eyes. Simultaneously, he got knocked to the floor, sensing immense heat. His eardrums felt like bursting as a deafeningly loud, roaring noise hit him. The bulkhead's door closed without fail, but not before some flames smoked Eldon's eyebrows.

"Was that an actual explosion?" he uttered, shivering like a leaf in the wind. His trembling knees could barely support him when Tarkin pulled him up.

"A minor fire," Kylo Ren stated grimly, in a deadpan voice devoid of all emotions. "It cut off the only way to the hangar bay, though."

Eldon bulged his hazel eyes at Snoke's apprentice. _How could he be so uncaring about it? Had he a death wish?_ Tarkin, on the other hand, was freaking out.

She gripped her cheeks, taking brief, shallow breaths. "I can't die," she whispered to herself with terror reflecting in her eyes. "I haven't gotten my medal, yet."

"No one is dying." Kylo Ren looked around until he found a panel, which could be opened. "This is our way out." He pointed at a man-sized hole, which lead who knew where. Expectantly, he stared at Eldon and Tarkin. "Jump in."

Calway swallowed a lump in his throat and took a step toward the mysterious shaft. He eyed Kylo Ren suspiciously, wondering if he wasn't leading them in some trap. Fellows in black capes tended to have funny ideas, that's what Eldon's grandma used to say.

Tarkin wasn't as indecisive and distrustful as Calway was. "Move!" she shoved him out of the way and dove into the shaft head first.

Encouraged by her example, Eldon followed her, squeezing himself through the hole. On his way down the steep shaft, he could hear his own voice as he shrieked at the top of his lungs. The rough ride ended just as quickly as it started and he landed on something angular. Immediately, the nauseating stench hit his sense of smell, bringing him on the edge of vomiting. Covering his nose with his palm he looked around at all the compostable trash around. "That was a garbage chute," he coughed out.

"No kidding." Tarkin's voice came from under Eldon's butt. Clenching her teeth from effort, she shoved him off herself.

Unlike Calway and Tarkin, Kylo Ren landed far gracefully. He fell onto his legs and quickly regained his balance, wobbling atop a mountain of trash. One corner of his lips rode upward in a crooked smile as he made his way toward the door.

Suddenly, the trash compactor's walls started to move inward, slowly crushing the trash. Eldon and Sergeant Tarkin looked at each other, pale like ghosts and cried out in a high-pitched duet. Abruptly, Calway felt a surge of adrenaline and power. Lightly like some assassin, he climbed higher and made a run for the door, leaving Tarkin behind. Somehow, he outrun Kylo Ren too and got to the door first. Frantically, he searched for a way to open it, but it wasn't possible from the inside of the trash compactor.

Despaired, he let out a whimper, falling to his knees. "There is no hope," he wailed.

Behind Eldon, Kylo Ren groaned, rolling his eyes. A characteristic buzz echoed across the room as he turned his red lightsaber on and plunged it in the door. The laser beam went through several inches of solid meta,l easily.

Eldon scrambled himself from the trash, watching Snoke's apprentice cut a hole in the door like it was nothing. So those obsolete lightsabers were useful, after all. He would never say it out loud, but, at this very moment, he was glad that the creepy youngster was on their side.

When he finished cutting, Kylo Ren kicked the round piece of metal and jumped through the hole. Of course, he didn't lend a hand to Eldon and Tarkin as they crawled out after him. Instead, he grabbed the intelligence officer's earpiece and tore it off.

"Hey!" she protested.

Kylo Ren glared at her, making her seam her lips shut. "Hux, get the shuttle to the garbage ejectors. Now." He tossed the com link back to Tarkin and focused his gaze on a batch of empty barrels that lay around.

Eldon developed a disturbing premonition regarding those… At this point, he was kind of following Kylo Ren's smuggler-like thinking. He wasn't wrong.

"Get inside those barrels," Kylo Ren said confidently, looking absolutely gleeful, as though it was the grandest design in the history of the galaxy. Seeing the hesitation of his companions, he narrowed his eyes at them. "I know what I'm doing."

"How could you possibly know something like that?" Eldon fit himself into one of the barrels, assuming an uncomfortable, embryonic position. His knees found themselves near his chin, while his arms got twisted at an odd, unnatural angle.

Kylo Ren loomed over him with the lid, ready to close Eldon in that tiny coffin. Before sealing the barrel, he muttered, "Everyone has secrets."

Eldon felt a cold shiver go down his spine out of the blue. He was scared for his life, but it wasn't that. He was under the impression that Kylo Ren's words triggered something in him, a stirring, ominous sensation. Although he tried, he couldn't back trace that eerie emotion to anything; his mind was hopelessly blank.

Calway didn't have the time to overthink his current emotional state, for the barrel, he was in, got tossed to the floor unceremoniously. "Ouch!" he yelped, almost biting his own tongue off. Next, he got an instant headache directly linked to nausea as the container rolled. He felt his brain rattle inside his skull. He harbored a flicker of hope that the barrel would eventually stop moving, but it never did.

It kept spinning even after it hit something and Calway felt disgustingly light. All pressure got removed from his spine and he was weightless, unable to tell where the bottom was anymore. Inside the thick container, the temperature dropped to an unpleasant level. Eldon put his hands under his armpits and struggled to endure the merciless ride. From the dark inside of the barrel, he could hear only himself breathing, as the sound didn't travel in the vacuum. Perhaps, it was for the best. The experience was mortifying enough without the sounds of laser blasts and explosions.

After what felt like an eternity, Eldon's container underwent serious tubulence – it bounced off something repeatedly, changing the way it spun. Surprised, he discovered that it was possible to feel even more queasy. Suddenly, the gravity was back on and the barrel plummeted, hitting the flooring. Eldon gasped, sensing his limbs and torso collide with the hard surface painfully. He coughed, when the container's lid got lifted. The light blinded him as he looked at it, squinting his eyes. "Am I alive?" he asked.

"You certainly are, Calway," Commander Hux answered him. His red hair glowed like a halo around his head, making him look like a divine being.

Clumsily, Eldon crawled out of the barrel and gawked about. Tarkin was slowly emerging from hers. Kylo Ren's container lay in two halves, presumably having been sliced open by a lightsaber. Miraculously, all of them made it, safe and smelly inside Commander Hux's shuttle. Eldon shook his head in amazement. "I can't believe that worked," he said, standing up. Swaying from side to side from the residual shock, he made way toward the front of the shuttle, where Sergeant Phasma sat behind the steers.

"Don't even think of coming near me," she told him sharply. "You reek."

Eldon shrugged his shoulders, then gently lifted an unidentifiable piece of trash from his hair and dumped it onto the floor. "You'd reek too if you had been forced into a garbage chute," he said to the trooper officer.

Phasma snorted. "Like that'd happen," she murmured with humor and gently lead the shuttle away from Deterioration and toward Snoke's personal fleet. She leaned over the steers and peered out the window like a nearsighted, old woman. Her grip on the handles was fiercely firm, betraying how inexperienced at piloting she was.

Not that Eldon was a master either; he couldn't land a shuttle in a hangar bay if his life depended on it. Feeling his adrenaline levels drop gradually, he made himself comfortable in the seat of the second pilot and surveyed the situation. He smiled, seeing that most of the insurgents were gone, either having been shot down or escaped. A few of them were still in sight, chased by flocks of TIE fighters. The initially grim situation turned into a win for the First Order in the end, sort of.

As things couldn't be too well for the five of them, an abrupt shock wave hit the Lambda-class shuttle, pushing it forth with a great speed. Phasma gasped, startled and panicked, helplessly staring at the console full of buttons, switches and levers. Ahead, parts of blasted X Wings and TIE fighters littered the space like a tiny asteroid field. At random, she pulled the steers and the small craft made a breakneck, 180 degrees turn.

The shuttle's crew froze, staring at the majestic explosion in front of their eyes. Consecutively, the neighboring sections of the Star Destroyer blew up, with orange balls of fire flickering in the silence of space. The humongous craft broke in half first, before the final explosion engulfed it all, tearing it into pieces. It was just like the fireworks on the Empire's Day, when Eldon saw them with his grandma.

Hux sighed heavily and commented, "And my flagship is gone, now."

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Author's note: Thanks for reading, as always. Reviews from you would be lovely, even one-line comments would brighten my day. Until the next update!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, obviously.

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Chapter 5: Rough Landing

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The Lambda-class shuttle kept spinning slightly until Kylo Ren managed to plot a stable course on the planet's orbit. A gargantuan pile of debris drifted alongside the small craft, its pieces dashing past the fragile ship and heading to be burnt in the atmosphere. Sooner or later, one of the fragments would hit the shuttle. Everyone seemed to know it, but avoided speaking up, as though mere mention of the danger would jinx it.

Commander Hux massaged his aching temples as he saw a pair of frozen stormtroopers glide across the space right out the window. He was responsible for these men and he failed them. Biting at his lower lip, he glanced up at the remaining members of his crew. Kylo Ren and Phasma sat by the consoles, composed and seemingly emotionless, but the other two... Tarkin was pale like a stormtrooper's armor and so was Doctor Calway. Even though the temperature in the shuttle was back to normal, they couldn't stop tremble.

"We'll make it, won't we?" Tarkin whispered hopefully.

Calway reached out to squeeze her palm reassuringly. "Of course," he answered her.

Phasma cleared her throat. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," she said and shifted in her chair so that she could see Hux. "Commander, we have a fuel leak and the propulsion is damaged."

Three deep wrinkles appeared on Hux's forehead. He was no star craft engineer, but even he had an inkling what it meant. "No light speed then." Thoughtfully, he scratched his hairless chin. "Is it possible for us to land?"

Instead of answering, Phasma let out a whistling noise, something between a reluctant sigh and a sound of panic. She raised her head to gaze on the ceiling and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure," she admitted.

"We'll land. That is, I'll land." Suddenly, Kylo Ren spoke. Unwavering confidence rang in his voice and a spark of hope lit his dark eyes. One corner of his lips curled up in a crooked smile. "It may be a rough landing though."

Hux stiffened upon the words. If Kylo Ren called a landing rough, it might mean only one thing… A droplet of cold sweat traveled down his temple and dripped onto his collar. "You want to crash land the shuttle." He realized.

"What?" Tarkin's high-pitched voice disturbed the silence. Her blue eyes bulged so much, as if they were about to pop out of the sockets. "You must be joking, it's too dangerous!" She shook her head in disbelief.

Calway swallowed a lump in his throat. "Isn't there a safer way?" he asked faintly.

Hux tapped his fingers against the armrest, thinking. Normally, he'd turn such a risky idea down. However, the circumstances called for unusual solutions; the resistance's reinforcements would show up any minute. The First Order might beat them, though…

Suddenly, something flashed outside the window, flying dangerously close to the shuttle. A split second later, the small craft was hit and knocked off the low orbit. All five of Hux's crew were seated and strapped, thankfully, so they didn't land flattened across the ceiling, when the shuttle shook violently. The view out the window got blurry as the little ship spun uncontrollably after the impact.

"What has happened?" Hux demanded.

Phasma kept hitting buttons on the console and staring at the display. "We got hit by something, a piece of debris probably," she said fairly calmly. Her composure was short-lived, however, and ended when she spotted some disturbing data. Alarmed, she exclaimed, "Oh no… the life support is damaged!"

Hux tilted his head, listening to a whizzing sound, which sounded a lot like the air escaping into the cold vacuum of space."Can we fix it?" He asked.

Phasma shook her head. "Not without an engineer or an astrodroid." She proceeded with tempering with the systems and extracting more data. "At this rate, we'll ran out of oxygen in about twenty minutes."

While Phasma was delivering the catastrophic news, Kylo Ren went ahead with flipping switches and pulling levers. At first, his actions seemed harmless, until he gripped the steer and punched one of the buttons. He triggered the maneuvering thrusters, which sent the shuttle into an abrupt leap right between two huge pieces of debris. On its way, the craft's stabilizer grazed the space junk and broke off.

Hux dug his fingers into his armrests so forcefully that his knuckles went white. "Kylo Ren, may I ask you what are you doing?" he demanded harshly, glaring at Snoke's young apprentice.

Kylo Ren didn't bother to even look over his shoulder. He merely muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for Hux to hear, "Landing before I suffocate."

Before Hux could scold Kylo Ren for making decisions without consultation, Tarkin leant forward in her chair. "You know what?" she spoke up with a trembling voice. With her skinniness and pale as she was right now, she looked like a ghost. "I'd rather die quickly in a shuttle crash than slowly asphyxiate."

"May the Force be with us," Calway added and assumed the crash landing position, bent over with his head between his knees.

"Looks like you've been outvoted, commander," Phasma commented nonchalantly.

Hux gritted his teeth. "We don't have democracy in the First Order," he hissed through the clenched teeth, but his statement fell on the deaf ears.

Soon, he felt the shuttle accelerating as Kylo Ren guided it toward the planet. Along the way, smaller pieces of debris bounced off the craft, but the sturdy hull somehow withstood the hits. It got shaky when the landing approach was initiated and the shuttle entered the atmosphere. Quickly, it got unbearably hot and it was difficult to hear anything over the deafening rattling of the ship. Nonetheless, Hux's sensitive hearing picked up a bunch of alarming noises that sounded an awful lot like parts of the craft falling off. Despite Kylo Ren's earnest efforts, the shuttle tilted, coming down at a wrong angle. If it continues like this, it will be crushed upon impact with the ground.

"Steady the shuttle!" Hux yelled to Kylo Ren, outshouting the noise.

Kylo Ren held the steers in an iron grip, tugging it, but nothing changed. The shuttle kept spinning. Then, Hux smelled smoke, as though something was burning. Before he could warn his crew, the pilot consol before Phasma and Snoke's apprentice blew up. The detonation was small, barely managing to smoke Kylo Ren's eyebrows, but enough to fry the display. While the shuttle kept descending, Phasma dealt with the fire by extinguishing it with her black mantel. Vigorously, she smacked the fabric against the smoking console. Next to her, Kylo Ren used a hem of his cape to smother sparks that landed on his lap and were about to set fire to his crotch.

"Well, we're done for," Tarkin whispered in a deadpan voice devoid of all hope. She leant back, crossed her arms on her chest and closed her eyes. Her position was eerily similar to one of a corpse on bier, awaiting cremation.

"Let us not panic just yet," Hux said to raise her morale, but he didn't really believe that. Helplessly, he watched the shuttle approach the thick layer of clouds and eventually plunge into them. Knowing that the impact was imminent, he called to Kylo Ren, "Can we slow the descent or do anything?"

"No!" Kylo Ren shouted back.

Hux nodded, acknowledging the grim information. He cleared his throat and commanded, "Brace for the impact!"

Just as the words rolled off his tongue, the shuttle emerged from the clouds. Ahead, a green field extended as far as the eye could see. When the craft got closer, Hux saw that they were above a lush jungle, filled with trees almost as high as the buildings on Coruscant. Some of the treetops vanished in the clouds, other were dangerously close…

Tarkin's terrified shriek rang in Hux's ears, as the shuttle crashed into one of the umbrella-like trees. The window held, but a net of cracks covered it, extending. Almost right away, the spacecraft hit more of the vegetation, smashing through the bark and thick branches, surely leaving a path of destruction behind it. Leaves and small animals kept crashing into the window, causing ghastly smears on the glass. The net of cracks grew, threatening to break the integrity of the shuttle.

Hux felt his back hurt as it got flattened against the backseat and rattled about. His teeth chattered so much that it was a miracle that his jaw didn't just break off. Barely, he restrained the horrid nausea, which made his stomach feel like a barrel of explosives. He fixed his gaze on the window and the view beneath it, pleading for the insane ride to halt.

The shuttle started to slow down gradually, after it eradicated a good portion of the forest. Soon, when the velocity dropped, the spacecraft lost its power of a speeding projectile. A collision with a particularly thick trunk sent the shuttle bouncing back to the side, falling on more branches. Hux heard himself scream as the ship made its way down. The parachute ejected, but it didn't do any good in the dense forest, it didn't even open. Instead, it got caught in the branches and tore, slowing the shuttle a little, but not sufficiently. It would be a hard landing, hard enough to have Hux and the rest splatter upon impact.

"I'm sorry grandpa!" Tarkin yelled, right before the shuttle hit the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited to die in the crash.

Hux felt an abrupt jerking upon the impact. His seatbelts barely held his body as the enormous g-force threw him forward. For a split second, he hang on the safety straps that dug into his shoulders and stomach. Then, he got plastered against his chair again, the back of his head banging against the headrest. Immediately, dizziness overtook him, making his vision fuzzy and senses dulled. Annoying, persistent ringing in his ears got louder, preventing Hux from discerning the other sounds. Barely, he registered the back of the shuttle lower to the ground. Confused and nauseous, he gawked about.

Takin and Phasma were limp in their chairs; he couldn't even tell if they were still alive. Doctor Calway turned his head to stare back at Hux and kept saying something. His lips moved, but the ringing in Hux's ears was too intense to make out what he was trying to convey. Frantically, the chubby medic pointed his finger at the front window.

Before the commander looked in that direction, he felt something gooey touch his feet, slimy and wet. He felt it all over his toes, then it reached his ankles and crept up his calves. Slowly because of his aching neck, Hux stared down. His blue eyes widened as he saw muddy bog water on the shuttle's floor, it's lever rising steadily. Now he understood what Calway wanted to tell him. Suddenly much more focused, he looked up at the front window to discover that the glass pane was gone. Sharp pieces of glass stuck out from the frame, but the rest lay scattered on the floor, now covered by the dirty swamp water, which was pouring inside. Dense, brownish liquid seeped over the console straight onto Phasma's bucket helmet and Kylo Ren's face.

Coughing and spitting, Kylo Ren wrestled with his seatbelt. Finally, he whipped out his lightsaber and cut the straps off. His wet cloaked glued to his legs, heavy and obscuring his movements. Wading in the knee-deep water, he reached Phasma and cut her seatbelt off.

"Thanks," Phasma uttered. She had to prop herself against the pilot console while getting up from her chair. Her sturdy armor seemed to hold her upright, for she swayed from side to side slightly as she went to free Hux.

Water already reached his lap when Phasma shot the straps off with her blaster. Hux gasped, startled, and shuddered. _She could have blasted my head off_. Frantically, he shook the remnants of the straps off his shoulders and pulled himself up.

"Calway, Tarkin, are you fine?" Hux eyed his subordinates, who were getting freed by Phasma just now.

Tarkin, miraculously without even a single bruise or scratch on her, jumped to her feet energetically. "Surprisingly, I'm alright." She smiled unsurely and checked if her grandfather's medal was still safely stashed under her uniform. Relieved, she breathed out and helped Calway get up. "Come on, doc, the shuttle is sinking."

Calway nodded, struggling to move forward in the waist-deep, murky water. "My late grandma must be watching over us," he said. "If we crashed into something else than a bog, we'd be done for. All in all, we're lucky buggers."

"Lucky?" Hux repeated dryly as he limped to the smashed window. "Over sixty thousand of good men and women died during the last hour and you call us lucky?" He glared at Calway, making the doctor lower his head and hunch his back. Hux gritted his teeth and fixed his gaze on the way out from the sinking shuttle.

Kylo Ren already crawled outside, closely followed by Calway and Tarkin. The skinny spy officer climbed onto the console and reached out to pull the doctor up.

Hux clearly felt aching in his foot, but he kept fighting against the rising water level. Suddenly, he felt a shiver go down his spine, as though something was amiss. Much too quickly for his hurting neck, he turned around to stare at the thrashed, empty compartment. "Phasma?" he called, not seeing her anywhere.

Tarkin froze and her hold on Calway loosened. The doctor's palm slipped out of hers and he plopped into the water, vanishing under the surface for a while. Tarkin didn't even spare a glance at him though. She paled and gawked ahead. "Phasma?" she coughed out quietly, before she jumped into water, frantically searching for the missing officer.

Hux bit his lower lip and joined her. "Don't stand there, Calway!" he yelled and leant forward, blindly looking for Phasma by flailing his arms in the water. The sound of slashing accompanied him as he stumbled upon something with his foot. A chair? Hux furrowed his brows and took a deep breath, before diving.

The water was more like a gruel than a liquid, which made his movements even slower. He reached out and felt out the object. Its surface was smooth like metal and the shape… It was Phasma! Hux almost released air from his lungs upon the discovery. He grabbed her as firmly as he could and hauled her up.

"Tarkin, help me!" he cried out once his mouth was above the surface. A bit of the stinky goo got to his mouth and he could taste its foul flavor. Disgusted, he spat it out, right atop Phasma's helmet.

"Hurry up commander." Tarkin ducked under Phasma's arm so that she could support the limp trooper. "The shuttle will be under water in no time."

Hux nodded, acknowledging her words, and pushed forward. Phasma and her armor were unbelievably heavy to carry. He had to use all his strength to keep the unconscious sergeant's head above the water as he was hauling her to safety. With Calway's aid, he and Tarkin dragged Phasma onto the console and then through the empty window frame. The level of adrenaline in Hux's system was still high and he was bewildered, so he barely felt a shard of glass graze his thigh and pierce it like a big needle.

By the time Hux and his crew scrambled outside, only the tip of the spacecraft floated above the surface. As it turned out, the shuttle had landed precisely in the middle of a small pool surrounded by stone-hard root system. For a moment, the commander wondered how would they swim to shore in the thick bog water, but help was on the way.

"Grab it." Kylo Ren tossed them a bunch of lianas, which he had tied to a tree's trunk.

"Appreciated." Hux caught the lianas and tied one of them around Phasma's chest tightly. He raised his head and nodded to Kylo Ren before he pushed the knocked out trooper into the bog.

Kylo Ren set his legs apart, making sure his stance was firm and steady. Quickly, he pulled at the liana, towing Phasma to the shore. For a moment, she vanished under the surface, and Hux held his breath. He was able to breathe out with relief when she emerged and got hauled to safety by Kylo Ren.

"You're next, Tarkin." Hux helped her tie the liana under her shoulders and turned to do the same to Calway. He lifted one of the makeshift roped and was about to put it around the doctor, when the plump man lifted his hand in a protest.

Calway shook his head. "I'm going after you, commander," he stated in a startlingly firm tone, so different from his usual babbling.

"As a commander, I won't evacuate before my subordinate." Hux narrowed his eyes.

"As a doctor, I won't let a wounded stay behind me." Calway pointed his finger down, at Hux's leg.

The commander looked down and with a certain surprise, he discovered that he was injured. Blood seeped out of his thigh, mixing with the brownish bog water. When he shifted his weight to the wounded limb, he felt pain spreading all over his leg. He gasped, startled by its intensity. "Alright, we'll do it your way, Calway," he uttered through the clenched teeth and tied the rope around himself. Trying to ignore the pain, he leapt forward to the swamp and started pulling at the liana.

Kylo Ren got him out of the bog quickly, and Calway joined not long after. Exhausted and injured, Hux slumped to a wide root which engulfed the pool of water. Wiping the muddy liquid off his face, he stared at the Lambda-class shuttle in front of him. Most of it sunk already, save the stub of the flight stabilizer.

"This day just gets better and better," Hux commented, watching the shuttle vanish under the water's surface.

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Author's Note:

Thanks for reading! It would be amazing if you let me know in comments how did you like the story.

Also, the story is going for a hiatus.


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